


rhythm of the train

by Corpium



Series: Intrusive Thoughts [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Post season 3a, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-27
Updated: 2014-06-27
Packaged: 2018-02-06 10:33:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1854868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corpium/pseuds/Corpium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jennifer knows she can't redeem herself, but she sure as hell can try.</p>
            </blockquote>





	rhythm of the train

**Author's Note:**

> If you don't want to read the prequel, that's totally fine. All you need to know is this: after dying in the last episode of 3A, Jennifer came back to haunt Stiles. She possessed him, resurrected herself by sacrificing Aiden, but she was unable to kill Deucalion because Peter killed him first. She was really pissed off about this, but she realized the damage she had done to Stiles in the process of resurrecting herself, so when he begged her to leave, she did. 
> 
> If you're looking for Peter/Stiles, this is not the fic for you. They're just tagged because they were the main pairing in the prequel and because they make a brief appearance in this one, in which all they do is bicker.
> 
> *Please don't add/rate this on goodreads or copy/duplicate this outside of personal use. If you'd like to know why I don't want it on goodreads, see my post [here](http://perceptions3key.tumblr.com/post/114890656994/i-have-a-request-regarding-my-fanfiction-and-ill).

 

She thinks of herself as Jennifer now. Julia would never have taken innocent lives, would never have tortured a soul. Julia would never have done what she's done.

 

_"Mind rape."_

 

In the beginning, it didn't seem so bad. Deucalion had destroyed her –again—and Peter had snatched away her dying hope. Her blood had splattered across the Nemeton, and it had been just enough to leave her a shade. One more restless spirit in Beacon Hills. And she couldn't, she just  _couldn't_ go out like that. She was meant for so much more. So she found Stiles, tracked down his spark and latched onto it like a leech. She used him.

 

_"Please."_

 

The other sacrifices had said it, too, but she didn't know them. They'd been innocents, and she'd wished she hadn't needed to do it, but she did. They didn't  _matter_ , not like Stiles. For all his grumbling reluctance, he slipped under her skin like family, like someone she could be honest with. They'd bantered and teased each other, and Jennifer hadn't needed to act like a sweet, innocent rose, hadn't needed to pretend something inside her hadn't died when Kali left her bleeding and gasping in the dust. She didn't need to pretend to be anything but herself.

 

She'd watch him toss and turn in the night, strangled apologies and pleas bubbling out of his lips.

 

The more time she spent at his side, the more she thought that Stiles might be able to understand her.  He lied, he tricked, he manipulated, he sacrificed. He wore himself down to the bone figuring out how to tackle one supernatural threat or another. He gave so much of himself up for his friends and father, and Jennifer could only watch his back and share with him what little she knew. She tried to take it easy on him. She knew he wouldn't agree to what she was planning, but perhaps once it happened, he'd understand. Perhaps he'd forgive her.

_"You used me to murder someone!"_

 

He didn't.

 

 

O~O~O

 

She finds herself in her hometown.  _Julia's_  hometown. Her apartment's been sold, along with everything in it. Perhaps it's for the best. She doesn't know if she could bring herself to wear her grandmother's necklace, doesn't know if she could use her father's recipe book without crying, doesn't know if she could wear her cherished Lady Macbeth costume without falling to her knees and laughing. If only community theater could see her now.

 

She spends the night in a cheap motel and spends the day wandering. Rocky's Sandwich Shop looks just the same as she remembers, its rustic interior warm and inviting. Jennifer steps inside, adrenaline rushing through her veins, and walks up to the empty counter, holding her breath. She rings the bell.

 

"Coming!" a hoarse, slightly annoyed woman's voice calls from the kitchen. Jennifer breathes out shakily, lips trembling in a parody of a smile. She knows that voice.  _Get yourself together_ , she tells herself.

 

A minute later, a squat little woman in her mid-thirties approaches the counter, a familiar frown etched onto her face. Meredith. She dusts off her flour-covered hands, not that it does much good, and tucks a dark brown curl behind her ear. "What would you like?"

 

Jennifer's words catch in her throat.

 

Meredith's brow furrows, tilting her head back. "You okay there, Miss?" she asks gruffly.

 

Jennifer nods her head, unable to blink. She takes in Meredith's pale skin and square shoulders. Her biceps look a little bigger, a little flappier, and her face has acquired a few wrinkles. More freckles dot her cheeks, and her curly hair's a lot shorter than Jennifer remembers. It's not even enough to warrant a pony tail. Despite the stern set of Meredith's face, her brown eyes look warm and concerned, if not somewhat wary. She's the most beautiful person Jennifer's seen since the day Julia died.

 

"Ma'am?"

 

"Sorry, I just…." Jennifer swallows and closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. She shakes her head and looks at Meredith. "I just got lost in thought. Can I have a glass of water and a turkey sandwich with extra mayo? On rye, no pickles. For here."

 

Meredith's frown grows. "Yeah," she says faintly.

 

"What is it?"

 

Meredith shakes her head. "That was my sister's usual order."

 

"Was?" Jennifer asks, because apparently she still likes to torture herself and everyone around her.

 

Meredith's eyes narrow at Jennifer. "Yes," she says coldly. "That'll be six dollars and ten cents." She punches some buttons on the cash register as Jennifer hands over a ten.

 

"Keep the change. I don't need a receipt, either," she says.

 

Meredith takes it, looking almost suspicious, then turns around and walks back into the kitchen, throwing over her shoulder, "It'll be right out."

 

When she disappears out of sight, Jennifer tips her an extra twenty.

 

She stays there for a half hour, chewing slowly and watching as the occasional customer wanders in. Meredith loses her frown for a couple of them and even laughs for one of the kids who tags along with his big brother. Jennifer watches her greedily, drinking in her off-key humming and no-nonsense attitude until Meredith catches her eye and frowns. She smiles back and waits for Meredith to busy herself with another customer, then drops off her empty dishes at the counter with a soft, "Thank you."

 

Meredith doesn't respond verbally, too busy listing off the types of dressings they offer. Instead she just nods her head in acknowledgement. Jennifer leaves, feeling Meredith's eyes on her back, but when she looks back at the counter right before she walks out the door, Meredith's already disappeared into the kitchen.

 

 

O~O~O

 

There's something cleansing about rain. The way it slides down her forehead, leaving a cool, slick trail in its wake before it clings to her eyelashes. It soaks into her hair, weighing it down more and more until it lays against her back, a heavy, cold weight that bleeds through her clothes into her shivering skin.

 

Seattle. She's not sure how she gets there, but she stays for the rain.

 

She gets a job as a teacher again because this she knows she can do, but this time she teaches middle school. Teaching high school, she thinks, would remind her too much of her time in Beacon Hills. She teaches the usual books, like  _Bridge to Terabithia_ and  _To Kill a Mockingbird_ , and after enough pleading from her students and a little bit of (magical) persuasion on her part, she gets to add  _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_ to the list.

 

She does it mostly for her students at first, but the next thing she knows she's reading the rest of the series. The way Voldemort glues himself to the back of Quirrel's forehead reminds her uncomfortably of her own time as a shade, and there's something to be said, she thinks, for how Sirius loses himself in his need to destroy Peter Pettigrew. The series is no  _Heart of Darkness_ , but perhaps that's a good thing.

 

Nick, one of her most eager-to-please, academic students goes silent when the class begins discussing the Dursleys. She keeps him after class that day to ask him if he's okay, and when he answers, "Fine," face shuttered, she lets him go. She watches him for the next couple weeks. Nick startles easily and takes up space like he's afraid someone will steal it. He keeps an eye on the room like a watchdog and always takes a seat in a corner. He hates having his back to the door. When they have parent-teacher conferences, both of Nick's show up. They seem completely normal.

 

She sends him to the school's counselor, but nothing comes of it. He stops speaking up in class and starts avoiding her eyes, and she wonders if she did something wrong. She casts a scrying spell on him, and his home life seems fine. The next day, it doesn't.

 

She does her best to fix it.

 

Sometimes she wanders through the mile-long park that lines the rocky shore, and she wonders about the darkness she'd been so obsessed with after Kali. She'd buried herself within it and told herself she could see clearly, that she finally understood the world around her, but in her more guilt-ridden moments, she thinks the only reason she found solace within it was because she was too afraid to open her eyes.

 

She wonders what she would find if she went back to Beacon Hills now. Her blood boils when she thinks of the surviving twin, memories swelling to the surface of her mind, but she shoves them down before she can lose herself in them. Instead, she wonders if Peter's taken over as Alpha, if Scott's still alive, if Derek and Cora ever returned. She wonders about Stiles, if he's safe and happy. His spark shines across the miles between them like a lantern in the night, so she think he must be all right.

 

He wanted her to leave, so she did. She's not going to ruin everything by going back.

 

 

O~O~O

 

There's no Nemeton in or around Seattle, so at first she thinks she's the only supernatural thing around. She shies away from the sacrifices' power that still lies buried within her, instead choosing to get her power from tiny rituals and sacrifices that come only from herself. When she really needs power, she travels out to the Hoh Rainforest. It's an old, special place, and power weaves through it like creeper vines. It reminds her of the Nemeton, but it's safer. Whole.

 

Seven months after living in Seattle, she finds out one of her students, Elisa, is a Selkie.

 

She finds this out not because she's a powerful ex-Darach, but because Elisa's family kidnaps her and accuses her of stealing Elisa's skin. This, she was not expecting. Preferring neither to be eaten by a seal nor to add more deaths to her tally, Jennifer proves them wrong by doing the one thing she can do: she finds Elisa's skin, stolen by a creepy old man with Very Bad Intentions.

 

That's how she meets Elisa's perfectly single, completely adorable aunt, Aileen.

 

It's when Aileen bares her adorable little canines in Creepy Old Man's face and growls, "I will eat you alive," that Jennifer decides she's in lust.  

 

"Now let's be rational about this," Jennifer says, gripping Aileen's shoulder. She leans in. "If you eat him you might get indigestion. I have a much better idea." Aileen meets her gaze, curious. "How about he eats himself?"

 

Creepy Old Man's face goes pale, and Aileen's eyes go wide. Perhaps Jennifer's overdoing it. "Or I could just kill him," she says, trying to backtrack. "You know, make it quick and easy. No need to be over the top about it." Aileen starts to smile, but bubbling nervousness in Jennifer's gut makes her keep going. "Making him eat himself would be totally psycho, wouldn't it? I was just joking. Which isn't to say I don't wanna make him pay, but--"

 

Aileen grins and holds up her forefinger. "It's okay. We did sorta kidnap you, so.... You do your thing. No judgment."

 

No judgment or not, Jennifer doesn't make him eat himself. Just in case. She uses a spell to suffocate him without leaving any evidence, and Aileen just watches with a satisfied little smirk.

 

It's after he's dead that Jennifer registers what she's done. She's taken another life. She trembles as she stares at the body, phantom energy flooding her limbs. She wants.

 

Aileen nudges her side, eyes carefully neutral. "You ever heard of Ricky's?" she asks softly. Jennifer struggles to register what she's saying. "It's a nice little hole-in-the-wall Irish pub. You'll love it." Aileen tugs her around and herds her out the front door by a hand on the small of her back.

 

It's only when they get in the car that Jennifer manages to shake herself out of whatever psychotic trance she was in and realize what's going on. She looks at Aileen, driving like everything's completely normal. "Thanks," she murmurs.

 

Aileen smiles back. "Nah, thank you. I really would have gotten indigestion."

 

Jennifer laughs.

 

 

O~O~O

 

After that, Jennifer finds herself more and more involved with Seattle's supernatural community. She helps negotiate territory disputes between the Selkies and the mermaids, and she helps one of her students come to terms with being a changeling. Sometimes she senses the occasional monster tromping through Washington east of Seattle, heading south. Most of the time they're going to Beacon Hills, so Jennifer does her best to head them off.

 

She and Aileen break up but become best friends, and for a while Jennifer stays single. She has a fling with a Seer, Alfonzo, and she has a couple one-night stands with regular humans. She spends a lot of time with the Selkies and basically becomes Elisa's second aunt.

 

All the while she continues teaching, and Stiles's spark shines bright in the distance.

 

She thinks she might be happy.

 

 

O~O~O

 

Two and a half years after moving to Seattle, Jennifer wakes up in a pile of snoring seals to find Stiles's spark gone. "Stiles!" She bolts upright in a panic, jostling most of them awake. Oblivious to their grumbling, she prods at where Stiles's spark ought to be. There's a blank spot there, and it makes Jennifer's heart pound.

 

Aileen shifts and rests her chin on Jennifer's shoulder. "Stiles?"

 

"I dunno," Jennifer mumbles incoherently. "He should be…." She prods the spot again. There's something there. Somehow, it feels like muffled, twitching, pulsing tar. She's never heard of this before, but she'd never heard of a Darach possessing a spark before, either, and look how that turned out.

 

"Is he okay?"

 

"I don't think so," Jennifer says. Daringly, she shoots a little bolt of energy at the spot. It pulses like a dying light bulb. She shoots it again, and Stiles's spark flickers to life, pale and weak but steady.

 

She lets out a shaky breath. "I have to go. I don't know when I'll be back, but—"

 

"Take me with you," Aileen says, her head bumping against Jennifer's ear.

 

"I'm going to Beacon Hills. You don't want to come with me."

 

Aileen stills, and Jennifer can feel the rest of the Selkies listening in. They've all heard of Beacon Hills by now, even if they don't know the role Jennifer played in it, but they all know it's bad news.

 

"Take me with you," Aileen says again. When Jennifer hesitates, she continues, "It'll be a fun little vacation."

 

Jennifer huffs out a tiny little laugh. "Then hold on tight."

 

Aileen wraps her arms around Jennifer's waist, and Jennifer apparates (because as silly as it may sound, that's the term the druids have started to use for it) them to Stiles's location.

 

She finds Stiles and his pack mid-firefight in a cave, fighting off skeleton-covered rockmonsters with ram skulls and raptor talons. Aileen yanks Jennifer out of the way just before one of them buries its knifelike claws into her stomach. "Bad guys?" Aileen asks, her face shifting as she pulls out a curved dagger.

 

Jennifer nods and glances at the dagger. "I don't think that's gonna help," she says, even as she gathers her magic together and zeroes in on Stiles. She finds him standing off to the side, eyes watching something in the depths of the cavern, both hands grasping something invisible in front of him as he sways back and forth.

 

"I'll figure something out," says Aileen, putting the dagger away. A low, rumbling growl bubbles out of her throat, and for a moment everything stops. Scott, Isaac, and Ethan freeze, half shifted in the middle of the cavern, and another teenage girl with great legs who Jennifer doesn't recognize glances at them even as she wrestles with one of the monsters, dirty blond hair flying in her face. Derek crouches near the entrance, mid-lunge, wide eyes locked on Jennifer. "It's as if you've never heard a seal growl before," Aileen quips.

 

One of the rockmonsters lunges at Stiles. A bowstring twangs, and an arrow shoots out of the brightly lit cave entrance, lodging itself in one of the eye sockets of the ram skull. A foot away from Stiles, the arrow bursts into flame, and the monster flails. Aileen charges forward and rips its ribcage open with her bare hands.

 

Everything starts to move again.

 

Jennifer darts away from the monsters and reaches Stiles, hovering over his shoulder to follow his line of sight. She peers into the darkness, and at first she sees nothing. Stiles doesn't notice, eyes unblinking, still swaying like a charmed cobra.

 

"Stiles?" she asks. "Come on, say something."

 

The spark on the edge of her conscious flickers, the tar she'd felt earlier surging over it in waves.

 

She doesn't know what he's fighting, but he's fighting something. All she can do is help.

 

She takes him by the shoulders and pours energy into him, and she feels his light brighten. At first, it's easy. She's kept up with her basic rituals and sacrifices, and her bond with the Selkies acts as a catalyst for it all. But even as Stiles's spark grows and brightens, the  _tar_ trying to blot it out grows and darkens. It's not enough.

 

She forces herself into the back of her mind where she's been storing the sacrifices' power and dives into it, funneling it into Stiles. She feels like she's looking up through a spyglass from the bottom of a well. Her muscles shake and her mind threatens to collapse in on itself, the tenuous link with Stiles the only thing holding her up. His energy pulses and churns, aimed at the tar like a beam, and Jennifer remembers what it was like to feel that strong, to feel like a hurricane. His defenses are down. She could take it all from him.

 

She  _won't._

A golden white haze clouds her vision, and Jennifer finally sees what's been trying to kill Stiles. Writhing shadows dance around a humanoid, inky black  _thing_ that stands in front of them, tall and thin with an elongated head and two pale white hollows for eyes. Stiles holds two of its three grasping hands just inches away from his face, each of its hands consisting of three clawed fingers. The other hand reaches behind it, its fingers buried in an unconscious, hulking beast's fur:  _Peter_ , Jennifer's mind supplies.

 

The claws reaching for Stiles twitch, shadows extending out of them to brush Stiles's skin.

 

His light flickers beneath the new onslaught of tar, and Jennifer reaches deep within herself and  _shoves._

The light becomes real, bursting out of his hands in winding golden beams that twist and arc around the shadow-thing's limbs and wrap around its body. Jennifer feels the last of her power drain out of her, but it's still not enough, so she gives one final shove –Stiles twists the shadow-limbs in his hands, and the light tightens around the thing, bleeding into it until it bursts.

 

Shadows go flying everywhere, and Jennifer pushes Stiles down out of their way. They pass through Jennifer's skin like shards of glass slicing into her bones, and she feels her heart stutter in her chest.

 

Stiles groans from underneath her, and Jennifer's vision starts to fade. The hulking beast opens its glowing red eyes and narrows in on her. She sees Aileen's feet land in between them.

 

"What the fuck—" Stiles mumbles, and Jennifer faints.

 

 

O~O~O

 

When she comes to, she's lying against Aileen's body in the daylight, and Peter Hale's standing over her, prodding her leg with his foot. "Wake up," he says.

 

"Stop that," Aileen says.

 

Peter's eyes flash red, and Aileen growls in response, breasts vibrating against Jennifer's back. It's not a bad feeling.

 

"Stop that," Stiles snaps at Peter, limping up to them with one arm slung over Scott's shoulders. Derek looms behind them. "I just nearly died. Again. No more fighting." Peter and Stiles glare at each other for a moment before the red fades out of Peter's eyes and he crosses his arms. Stiles looks down at Jennifer and narrows his eyes. "And no possession, either, got it?"

 

"No possession," Jennifer agrees.

 

Isaac and the Blond Girl With the Legs comes up from behind Scott, and Jennifer notices Allison standing with Lydia some ten feet away, observing them all. "So," Isaac says slowly, wrinkling his nose as he stares down at Jennifer and Aileen. "Why do you smell like fish?"

 

Aileen raises a hand. "Selkie."

 

"What's a selkie?" asks Scott.

 

"A seal who can turn into a human," Stiles says.

 

"Steal their skin, and they'll be bound to you forever," Peter notes.

 

Aileen stiffens. "Until they find it," she corrects. "And then you're dead."

 

Peter tilts his head. "You're a long way from home."

 

Stiles rolls his eyes and pats Peter on the chest. "Calm down."

 

Peter grabs Stiles's hand with a reproving frown, Scott makes a face, and Jennifer groans. "I did not come here for this."

 

Stiles's snatches his hand away with a glare.

 

"You get used to it," says Blond Girl With the Legs. "Unfortunately." She pretends to gag.

 

"So why did you come here?" asks Scott, bless his heart.

 

Jennifer nods at Stiles. "He was dying."

 

"So what, did you come here to finish him off?" asks Isaac.

 

"If she came here to kill Stiles, he would already be dead," Peter says flatly. "She came here to save him." He looks down his nose at Jennifer. "Isn't that right?"

 

She meets his gaze, and she remembers how he stole Deucalion away from her, how he ripped his throat out like the opportunistic little shit he is. Stiles shifts beside Peter, and guilt burrows itself into her gut as she remembers making him carve symbols into Aiden's skin.

 

"Yeah. That's right."

 

"Well," says Lydia's unamused voice from behind them, "If that'll be all, I have a life to get on with." She whirls around and starts to march off, Allison on her heels.

 

"I'm going, too," Ethan says from his hiding spot behind Derek.

 

"Same," Derek says shortly.

 

"Can't imagine why they're leaving," Stiles says drily as a car engine revs just out of sight.

 

"Sorry," Jennifer unapologetically. Stiles sighs, and Jennifer wants to apologize for everything she did to him, but she doesn't think it would mean anything.

 

"You know," Stiles says to her, "that whole thing you pulled a couple years ago? You could have just told me what you planned to do."

 

Jennifer hesitates to speak in front of Aileen. She doesn't know. None of them do. But Stiles deserves a response. "You wouldn't have let me follow through with it," she says somberly.

 

"Probably not."

 

"If it means anything," Jennifer starts hesitantly, but Stiles cuts her off with a shake of his head.

 

"Don't." He looks away and swallows before meeting her eyes again. "Thank you. For today."

 

She feels the spark on the borders of her conscious nudge her. She nudges back. Stiles's eyes widen.

 

"Whenever you need me," she says with a nod, "that's how to do it. I won't be nearly as powerful as I was today. I used up too much. But I'll be there."

 

"Seattle?" Peter asks, eyes on Aileen.

 

Jennifer blinks. "How did you—"

 

"Dude, you really gotta creep everyone out like that?" Stiles shakes his head and looks at Jennifer. Peter cuffs him on the back of the head, and Scott chokes on a laugh. "He knew because of your friend. Right, Peter?"

 

Peter shakes his head at Stiles before explaining, "Seattle's Selkies have a particular look. This one fits it."

 

"'This one's' name is Aileen," Aileen says with a scowl.

 

Scott smiles. "Nice to meet you, Aileen. I'm Scott."

 

Jennifer can feel Aileen smile against her hair. "Nice to meet you, too, Scott." She helps Jennifer to her feet, saying, "I don't suppose you can apparate us back, can you?"

 

Jennifer almost laughs. "No." She's almost as drained as the first time she nearly died.

 

"I can drive you to Willow Springs," Stiles offers. "I think the train goes up to Seattle from there."

 

Jennifer blinks, surprised. "That would be nice. Thanks."

 

"Really, Stiles?" Peter asks, like he can't believe Stiles would be so stupid as to get in a car with Jennifer. To be honest, Jennifer kind of agrees with the sentiment.

 

"I'll go with," Scott volunteers.

 

"See?" says Stiles to Peter, already limping off and dragging Scott with him. "It'll be fine."

 

Peter narrows his eyes, but Stiles ends up driving them anyway.

 

Right before he lets Jennifer and Aileen out the door. "You know," he says, "I really appreciate you saving my life. I do. But."

 

"Is this the part where you threaten me?" Jennifer can't help but ask.

 

Stiles nods. "Yep. Don't come back here unless I'm dying. I won't hold anyone back."

 

"Ethan's still here."

 

"Yeah, well, if you ask me I think he should be gone, too, but Scotty here has decided to play nice out of pity."

 

"He's lost everything," says Scott, ignoring Stiles's frown.

 

And Jennifer knows she shouldn't argue, she knows, but, "And I haven't?"

 

Scott looks away, jaw tightening. Stiles looks down. Finally, Scott says, "At least he hasn't possessed one of my friends."

 

"No," Jennifer drawls, "he just helped kill one of them."

 

"Look, Jennifer, I get where you're coming from; I'm still pretty pissed off at Ethan, too," Stiles says with a pointed look at Scott. "But you killed Tara and Heather, and you tried to kill our parents. You don't just get to come back from that."

 

Aileen stiffens beside her and gets out of the car. Jennifer swallows. "Okay," she whispers. She gets out of the car.

 

Stiles sighs. "For what it's worth, it goes both ways. If you need me, I'll be there."

 

Jennifer nods and shuts the door. She doesn't look back.

 

She finds Aileen in front of the train station. "I've heard stories," Aileen says, ostensibly reading one of the signs, "of a Darach in Beacon Hills." She looks over at Jennifer. "You should've told me."

 

Jennifer just nods.

 

 

O~O~O

 

They spend most of the train ride in silence. They eat lunch and dinner with random strangers and travel up the coast. Jennifer spends most of the time in the Viewing car, watching the scenery flash by. She dozes off at one point and dreams she's struggling to stand during an earthquake that never ends, only to realize as she wakes up that the 'earthquake' is just the steady rhythm of the train passing over the tracks.

 

When they get off the train, Aileen starts off in one direction and Jennifer starts off in the other, only for Aileen to grab her arm. "Come back with me."

 

Jennifer blinks, confused.

 

"Tell us everything," Aileen says.

 

Jennifer starts to shake her head.

 

"We're not going to turn you away because of your past. Not after everything you've done for us."

 

Jennifer nods, unable to speak, and she follows Aileen home.

 

She knows she can't redeem herself, but she sure as hell can try. 

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments feed my soul.


End file.
